Rise of the Black Claws
by I'maChair5050
Summary: When the war against Robotnik heats up, the Freedom Fighters lose someone close to them. In a desperate bid to end the war, they make a huge risk, bringing together a group of hardened criminals to form an expendable fighting force. Their job: Destroy the enemy forces by any means neccesary. Their name: The Black Claws. Rated T for now. Contains violence. Lots of violence.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: In the Slammer**

Rain.

Khaine couldn't stand it.

It was often cold, wet and noisy.

It also made him need to take a piss.

"Focus Khaine" he told himself. "I can't afford to miss. Definitely not now"

He stood on the rooftop, looking down at the large mansion below him, waiting for his target to emerge.

His target in question: Ralph Stewart. A key figure in the military organisation known as G.U.N.

Now, if this was any ordinary order for assassination, Khaine would've simply rushed in and taken Stewart's head off with a machete.

But this was different, not least because the target was a G.U.N commander.

The main difference here was the bounty on his head.

Usually, Khaine and his partner in crime, a weasel by the name of Wilhelm (Often called "Fyreheart") were used to collecting small, yet sizeable bounties, usually offering several hundred thousand dollars, some offering a few million.

But this was beyond that.

If they could get this right, they would be $80 million dollars richer.

Together, the duo had been slowly accumulating a fortune from their kills, currently totalling around $22 million.

If they could nail this kill, they would be able to retire for the rest of their lives with a personal fortune of around $50 million each.

But only if they nailed the kill.

Khaine decided to stop wasting time and get his equipment set up.

In his left hand, he carried what looked like a briefcase.

Placing it down next to him, he opened it to reveal the parts of his weapon of choice.

A .50 calibre sniper rifle.

One of the most powerful sniper rifles on the market.

The fox quickly assembled it, equipping it with a thermal scope and a silencer.

He then slotted a small communicator into his ear and pressed it.

"Fyreheart, I'm in position. I have eyes on the mansion. Do you have a visual?"

"Almost. Just give me a sec and...There! The cameras are online"

"Good idea planting the hidden cameras, my friend"

"I aim to please. Oh, and just a quick heads up, a lot of people have turned up for this shindig."

"I know. I'm looking through the window right now and it looks like most of the high ranking G.U.N officers are there. And then some"

"Whilst it may be tempting, the others don't have contracts on their heads, so just stick to the task at hand"

"I know. I'm just getting soaked through to my khakis out here. Couldn't we have just bought a helicopter gunship and blown the whole place to smithereens?"

"Yeah, but then we'd have less money to retire with".

"Ah. Good point"

He shivered.

"Urgh. I should've come out here in a wetsuit"

"Just keep your eyes on the prize, hot shot."

Khaine's attention returned to trying to see his target.

He stood on the edge of the building for the next few minutes, peering into the mansion through his sniper scope.

Then, he noticed that the attention of the guests inside were all focused on one thing.

He just couldn't see it yet.

Finally, he heard the very thing he was hoping that Fyreheart would say.

"Got it! I have a positive ID on Ralph Stewart!"

"I can't see him. Where is he?"

"He's just coming down the stairs and into the room where all the guests are at. You should be able to see him in a moment"

Sure enough, Khaine soon spotted a man, roughly in his late fourties with dark green eyes and a receding grey hairline Coming around and greeting the guests.

This was Ralph Stewart.

"Okay, I see him".

"Well then, you'd better make that shot, my friend"

Khaine levelled his sniper rifle, aiming right at Stewart's head.

"Don't screw this up" He said to himself. "Do. Not. Screw. This. Up"

Both he and Wilhelm knew that there were hundreds of assassins after that lucrative bounty.

But they were almost all incredibly outmatched by the dynamic duo.

What's more, it appeared that Khaine was the only one who had found the target.

He steadied his aim as his finger began to tighten on the trigger, his crosshair still on his target's head.

"I can do this. I can do this"

He reminded himself of just who he really was.

He was Khaine. He was the deadliest assassin on the planet, with a list of confirmed kills long enough to cover the equator. And then some.

He and his partner were the greatest. And they sure as he'll weren't going to let this kill get-

_BLAM!_

A sniper shot rang out.

Inside the mansion, the atmosphere had turned into pandemonium, as dozens of people rushed around a figure lying on the floor, with blood on his head.

Stewart had just been assassinated.

But Khaine hadn't pulled the trigger.

Shocked and confused, he looked across to see where the shot had come from.

What he saw was a sight that made his blood boil.

There, standing on the opposite rooftop, was a blue haired fox carrying a sniper rifle identical to Khaine's.

But it was the eye patch over his right eye that gave him away.

Mordecai. Khaine's closest rival.

"Khaine, you slick devil! We're Rich!" Wilhelm yelled out, ecstatic.

"Dude, we aren't. I didn't get the kill" Khaine replied.

"You ain't putting nothing over on me" Wilhelm replied, still under the impression from the footage that it had been Khaine who had taken the shot.

"Seriously, dude, we have a situation here! Mordecai just went and stole the kill"

This was enough to catch Wilhelm's attention.

"We're- wait, WHAT!?"

Mordecai, spotting his rival, gave him a cheeky wave before sprinting off across the rooftops.

"He's getting away!" Exclaimed Khaine, taking off after him.

"KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW! WE CAN'T LET HIM GET AWAY!"

Khaine obliged, detaching the silencer for better range on the sniper rifle.

He knew that killing Mordecai would be a difficult task. Whilst he hadn't been playing the assassin game for as long as Khaine, Mordecai was still an assassin to be feared, as he had recorded the greatest number of kills in a one week period.

However, in the business, he was still considered just second best to Khaine, with people hiring Mordecai to make the kill if they couldn't get the dynamic duo.

It was blatantly obvious to Khaine that Mordecai wanted the contract moment 1) All for himself and 2) Just to tick he and Wilhelm off.

That wasn't going to happen if he had anything to say about it.

Reaching a fairly high point in the skyline allowed Khaine to get a good view of the rest of the city.

Spotting Mordecai not too far away, Khaine decided to try and pick him off, leveling his sniper rifle and rapidly pulling the trigger.

_BlamBlamBlamBlamBlam!_

Despite his best attempts to hit him, Mordecai kept neatly dodging out of the way.

"Damn. This guy's been practising" Khaine Thought to himself.

Just then, an arrow came flying past Khaine's head and towards Mordecai, narrowly missing him.

Turning around to see who had fired the arrow, he found a figure disguised in a black cloak and carrying a bow and arrow.

His black trousers, grey trainers and bandana covering his mouth made him hard to identify, but it was the tufts of navy coloured fur and cybernetic right arm that gave him away.

It was Wilhelm.

"Well don't just stand there, you muppet!" He said to him. "Let's get him!"

Khaine agreed as the two took off after the rival assassin.

However, as they continued giving chase, a bright light began to shine down upon them.

Looking up, they spotted something they really didn't need to see at this point.

A Station Square Police Department helicopter was hovering over them, projecting its searchlight.

"You are violating the law!" A voice said over the loudspeaker. "Put down your weapons and surrender!"

"Not likely!" Wilhelm replied, taking out the searchlight with one precise arrow.

However, as the two continued running, they soon heard the sound of dozens of police sirens getting rapidly closer.

However, on the plus side, they we're beginning to get closer to Mordecai.

As they ran into a nearby construction zone, Mordecai was just a couple of metres away, allowing Khaine and Wilhelm to try and land a shot on him.

However, as they began to run through some scaffolding, it became "game, set and match" to Mordecai.

As he ran, Mordecai reached into a pocket and produced a strange small object, sticking it to a scaffolding pole as he ran.

The duo couldn't tell what it was to begin with.

But as it began rapidly beeping they realised with horror what it was.

"THAT'S A BOMB! MOVE!" Wilhelm yelled before he and Khaine turned around and ran back the other way to avoid the blast.

However, before they could make it away, the bomb detonated.

The whole floor beneath their feet disappeared as they found themselves falling through the air, thrown off the structure and deafened by the blast, accompanied by lots of falling debris.

Wilhhelm tried to latch on to a nearby building with the grappling hook on his wrist, but he was falling too fast to get a proper lock.

Whilst the impact with the hard ground wasn't enough to break any bones, it still hurt like hell.

The duo were left lying in agony for a few moments.

Then, just as they began to pick themselves up they saw the glare of dozens of bright headlights stopping in front of them, accompanied by flashing red and blue ones.

Encircling them.

As they eventually got to their feet, they found themselves surrounded by what seemed like the entire SSPD, SWAT unit and all.

There were multiple helicopters hovering overhead.

There was no way the duo were going to get out of this one.

Defeated, they dropped their weapons before going down on their knees, placing both their hands on their heads.

As they were promptly bundled into a waiting SSPD patrol car, Khaine looked out of the window to find Mordecai standing on a rooftop, out old sight, watching the scene.

Noticing Khaine and Wilhelm,nth he fox gave a cheeky salute before disappearing into the night.

"He'll pay for this" Khaine muttered to himself. "I'll send him to the 10th level of hell myself"

"Heh. Get in line, mate" Wilhelm replied.

* * *

The duo hadn't bothered trying to get lawyers. They knew they were guilty. They knew that everyone else in the court knew that they were guilty, so had just decided on trying to egg the court session wrapped up as quickly as possible.

As the duo sat in their chairs, waiting along with the rest of the court to see what the jury's verdict was, they and a chance to reminisce on their lives.

They had hacked, shot and murdered their way through millions.

Some would call them "God's mistakes"

But they couldn't care less.

For in their eyes, they were the best.

Finally, the jury returned.

As they did so, the judge returned to his chair.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" he asked.

"We have your honour" a young female replied, standing up. "On the charge of extreme mass murder, we find the defendant Kenneth "Khaine" Fox...Guilty!"

"Kenneth Fox, I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment on Prison Island" The judge stated, banging his gavel.

There were relieved whispers in the court.

Khaine shuddered. He hated it when people used his birth name.

"What's more, on the charges of Grand theft, Arson, Destruction of property and murder, we find the defendant Wilhelm "Fyreheart" Weasel...Also guilty" The juror added.

"Wilhelm Weasel, I sentence you to seven years on Prison Island" The judge added, banging his gavel again.

Wilhelm couldn't argue. Prison Island only was the most maximum security prison on the planet.

"Do the defendants have anything more to say?" The judge asked.

Wilhelm shook his head.

"I have something" Khaine muttered, rising out of his seat.

He gave the judge one of his most deathly glares before saying what he wanted to say.

"If you ever even think of calling me by my birth name again..." he growled "...I will personally tear off your head and ram it so far up your backside that you'll be able to see what you had for breakfast"

There were concerned murmurings in the audience.

"The same goes for you" he said to the jury.

"Okay then..." The judge said, quite disturbed by Khaine's threat. "Does the jury have anything else to add?"

"Erm, no, your honour"

"Very well then. This court is adjourned"

As everyone began to leave, the dynamic duo were escorted out of the court room by a whole horde of police officers.

As they came through the doors, they were greeted by a whole horde of paparazzi, eager to capture this moment.

"Charming as usual, Khaine" Wilhelm whispered to him as he and his friend were shoved into the back of a waiting police van.

"Hey, I told them before not to call me by my birth name, yet they still did so, anyway"

"Good point. So, what do we do about this, then? We're getting shipped off to the most maximum security prison on the planet, me for seven years and you for life"

Khaine chuckled.

"Don't worry, mon ami" he replied. "We'll find a way out. There's always a way"

* * *

**Khaine was created by I'machair5050 (myself)**

**Wilhelm was created by Versai**

**Mordecai was created by BrianLovesAlissaNalissa123**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: To prevent any confusion, I will explain that the world this story is set in is one of my own creation, as it is a mix between the Sonic Adventure games and the comic series.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Time for Action...**

_One year later_

To say that civilisation on Mobius was unstable was a huge understatement.

As far back as the history books went, the inhabitants had been at war of ages, with each war only split up by a short period of peace.

Even now, this was the case, with the forces of the world locked in what would eventually be known as "The Robotnik War".

On one side: Doctor Ivo Robotnik, his army of mechs and the Dark Egg Legion, using high tech equipment and "blitzkrieg" tactics in attempt for world domination.

On the other side: Human military organisations, including the top secret division know as G.U.N, fighting just like any other military organisation would fight.

However, whilst the humans had been able to match Robotnik and his allies, they were unable to better him.

Thankfully for them, however, they had a vital alliance of their own.

The Freedom Fighters of Knothole.

A small, yet highly skilled group of Mobians, specialising in non-lethal, yet still very effective guerrilla tactics, led by the iron willed Princess Sally Acorn.

The group was both heavily outnumbered and outgunned, but they had strengths that were unmatchable, even to Robotnik. It had been these strengths that had allowed them to be more than a match for Robotnik.

These strengths included:

Masterful combat strategising from Sally and her brother, Prince Elias Acorn.

Highly skilled engineers Miles "Tails" Prower and Rotor Walrus constantly developing and perfecting new equipment to allow the Freedom Fighters to carry the upper hand.

And to cap it all, the Freedom Fighters carried with them some of the best fighters worldwide, including the blue blur himself, Sonic The Hedgehog.

Almost every day of every year, these Freedom Fighters worked tirelessly to eliminate the Robotnik menace.

But today, however, things didn't seem that way.

Everything seemed to be so safe and tranquil.

Usually, this only meant that something big was on the horizon, but even so, everyone took it as an unofficial day off.

Some were out and about, doing stuff they'd usually never have the time to do.

But for Sonic the Hedgehog, he was out doing the one thing he always had time for: running.

The beautiful forests, tearing down dirt paths with the wind in his spines.

He and the world in almost perfect harmony.

That's what appealed to Sonic.

That was what he found himself doing at this moment in time: dashing along a dirt path with the wind in his spines, running without a care in the world.

However, the peace and serenity was soon shattered.

_BOOM!_

An explosion rang out from somewhere nearby, shocking Sonic back to reality.

"Well, so much for a day of peace" Sonic thought to himself, trying to listen in to find the source of the noise. "Guess I'd better check that out".

Eventually tuning his ear in, the blue blur raced off in the direction from whence the noise came.

As he raced on, he noticed a small trail of black smoke drifting up over the treeline.

Since this was wartime, Sonic had learned to treat each sudden situation with care, as there was no telling just what could happen.

He went charging towards the source of the smoke, expecting the worst.

However, as he burst through the tree line and into a clearing, ready for battle, he found himself quite disappointed.

There, standing before him, was the smouldering remains of one of Robotnik's mechs, with dozens of wires connecting it to a small computer nearby, with Tails and Rotor standing nearby, examining the computer screen and what was left of the mech.

Tails eventually became aware of his surrogate brother's presence.

"Oh hey Sonic" Tails said to him happily. "What's going on?"

"Hey buddy" Sonic replied, relieved to see that Tails was okay. "Yeah, I just heard this explosion and came over here to investigate. So what's cooking?"

"Just a little something we're experimenting on" Rotor explained. "A few days ago, we discovered that Robotnik's mechs function through the use of high frequency radio waves. What we've been trying to do is find a way of neutralizing these waves. Admittedly, it is hard for us to properly do so, since we are nowhere near the radio wave emitter, however, we have recently been looking into ways to disrupt the transmission in nearby mechs through the use of-"

Sonic couldn't be more confused if he tried. He may have been a noble hero, but he certainly wasn't a tech genius.

"Basically, they function through radio waves. We're experimenting with ways to disrupt the waves"

"Ah. I understood that" Sonic replied. "Although it appears there's still a few kinks to work out.

"Yeah, this iteration of our jamming device worked a bit too well. It did initially jam the signal, but it then caused the entire system to overload, leading to an explosion"

"Oh well. If at first you don't succeed-"

"Sshhh! Do you guys hear that?" Asked Tails, anxiously looking around.

As the other two listened in, they could hear a faint rustling sound coming from the treeline nearby.

Unfortunately, they couldn't pinpoint where the sound was coming from, as it seemed to be coming from everywhere.

But they sure as hell didn't think it sounded good.

Rotor looked worriedly over at the other two.

"I don't like the sound of that" he said to them. "Sonic, Tails, help me get the equipment packed up. If we aren't the only ones here, we need to make sure they don't get it"

The trio quickly got the stuff packed up.

Just then, however, they heard the sound of a twig cracking.

They didn't want to hang around to find out who was there.

But they could tell that if whoever was there was friendly, they would've revealed themselves to them by now.

"Sonic, you'd better get Tails and the equipment back to Knothole as fast as possible".

"Not without you, Rotor".

"Don't worry about me. I'll catch up to you. Just get the stuff out of here".

"Alright. Just take care of yourself"

Sonic and Tails then blasted off back into the forest, carrying the equipment with them, with Rotor following after them.

Unfortunately for the walrus, he wasn't the most athletic of the Freedom Fighters.

Almost immediately, Sonic and Tails vanished from view.

As for Rotor, he soon found himself stumbling through the forest as quickly as possible, trying to get out before he ran out of breath.

Unfortunately for him, this would prove to be difficult, with him eventually having to prop himself up against rock to catch his breath.

"I need to work out more" he wheezed.

After a minute's rest, he picked himself up off the rock.

"Alright, now back to-"

"_FWIP!_"

"AAAH! WHAT THE HECK?!"

Rotor soon found himself hanging upside down from a tree, with a rope wrapped around his foot.

As he desperately began struggling to take the rope off, he heard rustling from nearby.

Then, five Legionnaires emerged from the undergrowth, each bristling with weapons.

"Damnit, it's still not the hedgehog!" one of them exclaimed.

"What did you expect, genius" another replied. "He goes too fast for us to catch"

"Well, at least we caught someone allied to the Freedom Fighters" a third said to the others, pulling out a handgun and pointing it at the walrus, aiming directly between his eyes. "Now, we're going to ask you a set of questions. If you answer truthfully, we might just let you go".

* * *

"Come on, Rotor should be here by now".

"Perhaps he ran out of breath and had to wait to catch it again".

"I hope so. I'm just worried about him".

"I can't blame you"

The duo waited around for a couple more minutes, hoping for their friend to re-emerge from the forest.

However, as they waited, they heard what sounded like one of their worst fears coming true.

_BANG!_

A gunshot rang out

"AAAAAAAAAGH!" Echoed Rotor's voice.

Realizing that their friend was in danger, Sonic looked over at Tails.

"You go get Sally and the others" he said to him. "I'm going to get Rotor"

Before the orange fox could reply, Sonic blitzed off into the forest.

"I'm coming, buddy!" he thought to himself as he rapidly retraced his footsteps.

However, as he did so, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief when he spotted hos friend hanging upside down from a tree, clutching his right. arm with five Dark Legionnaires looking on.

"Knock knock!" the hedgehog called out, hiding in the undergrowth.

The five legionnaires were instantly alert.

"Who's there?" one of them called out.

He then leapt out of the undergrowth to face them.

"My fist!" he replied.

"IT'S THE HEDGEHOG! KILL HIM!"

However, before the five legionnaires could even think about raising their weapons, Sonic attacked, knocking the five down with swift punches to their faces.

Once that was done, he quickly wormed the foot of his friend out of the rope, allowing him to escape.

"Rotor, are you alright buddy?" Sonic asked, concerned as he noticed his bleeding arm.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. It's just a flesh wound. I'll live" he replied as he picked himself up. "Thanks for getting me out of there, by the way".

"That's alright. So what did they want with you, then?"

"Oh, they just wanted to know what we were doing out in the forest and stuff like that".

"And they didn't like one of the answers you gave, so they shot you".

"Pretty much, yeah".

"Well, we'd better head back to Knothole. The others are probably worried about you".

The duo began to head for the hills, with Rotor still holding on to his arm.

"Are you sure that's going to be fine?"

"Trust me, I'll be fine. That's one advantage of being thick-skinned".

The two continued walking.

However, as they walked, Rotor quickly looked back at where he had been.

To his horror, he discovered one of the legionnaires sitting up, readying a pistol and aiming it at the back of Sonic's head.

"SONIC!"

"Wha-?"

_BANG!_

The legionnaires pulled the trigger, firing a shot at the hedgehog.

However, before it could hit him, Rotor's body reacted before his mind did, causing him to dive into the path of the bullet.

It struck him in the chest.

As he fell to the ground, Sonic dashed over to the legionnaire, knocking him out with one quick punch.

He then rushed over to his wounded friend.

Unfortunately, this one looked a lot more harmful, as it had hit him directly in the chest.

"S...Sonic" the walrus gasped, clutching at his heavily bleeding wound.

"Don't worry, buddy, I'm here!" Sonic replied, placing his hands hard against the wound. "Don't worry, the others will be here and we can get you-"

"No, Sonic" the walrus replied. "I know my anatomy. The bullet-Argh!-punctured my lung. What's...more...I think it also ruptured a pulmonary artery. At best, I've only got a few minutes to live".

"No, don't say that! We can still save you! We need you here! We can't win this war without you! You've been like a brother to us!"

"I know, Sonic. Ever since this war began, you and the others have treated me like one of your own. You guys have been like a second family to me and for that, I thank you".

Tears were now rolling down Sonic's face.

"I-I'm gonna miss you".

"SONIC! ROTOR!"

Tails, Sally, Antoine and Amy arrived on the scene, surrounding Rotor.

"Oh god. Rotor, I'm so sorry." Sally said, sadly.

"Don't worry, Sal. It wasn't your fault. But before I go, I want to ask a favor".

"Sure. Anything".

"I...I want you to win this war. Remember what happened today and use that to make you guys stronger. Finish this war before any other Freedom Fighter loses their life."

He winced. The colour in his face was slowly disappearing. It was obvious that he didn't have too long left.

"And one more t-thing. If you find Robotnik..."

He drew one last breath before whispering two words that would stick with the Freedom Fighters for a long time afterwords.

"...kill him".

And Rotor Walrus went cold.

* * *

The Freedom Fighters knew what it was like to lose people beforehand, but it had never been someone this close to them before.

In the hours following Rotor's passing, the rest of the Freedom fighters buried him on a small hill, overlooking the rest of Knothole in a small, subdued ceremony.

His headstone read:

_Here lies rotor Walrus_

_Genius, Ally and close friend._

_R.I.P_

Not too long after that, an emergency meeting was held, with the key members of the group participating.

It was possibly the most sombre meeting any of them had ever been too, as all of them missed the walrus.

But it was Sonic who felt the worst of all.

He had gone and saved Rotor's life at the hands of those legionnaires, only to have him sacrifice his own life to save Sonic mere seconds later.

Sonic blamed himself for Rotor's passing.

The others knew this wasn't the case and tried to comfort him, but that didn't stop the blur from lamenting.

"If only I'd reacted faster" he thought to himself. "If I did, Rotor would still be here with us".

Very soon, Elias, Sally, Sonic, Amy, Julie-Su and Antoine were assembled in the council hall.

"Okay, the meeting is now in session!" sally said to the others as the meeting got under way. "The subject for this meeting is..."

He sighed.

"...the passing of Rotor Walrus. Now, I'm not going to beat about the bush with this one. It hurts. We've lost people in the past, but never as close as this. But Rotor's right. We need to remember what happened today and use that to make us stronger. But the question I'm asking to you is this: Where do we go from here?"

There was silence in the room as the others thought of an answer.

Finally, Sonic stood up.

"I'll be honest with you guys. I still blame myself for rotor's death. I know the others say that isn't the case, but I still think I could have done something about it. But I wish to fulfill Rotor's dying wish: to win this war and kill Robotnik before we lose someone else close to us."

"Agreed" Amy added, standing up. "With the death of Rotor, there's no telling which one of us could be next. Heck, if any of us go, our chance of victory would be lower".

Julie-Su eventually spoke up.

"Are you saying that because you're generally concerned, or just to draw closer to Sonic?"

Amy glared at her.

"Look, all attempts at humour aside, whilst I do agree with wanting to end the war as soon as possible, I disagree with going as far as to kill him. Doing that would push us down to his level and I'm pretty sure we don't want to stoop down to that level. Besides, I was down at that level before I joined you guys and I certainly don't want to go back there".

"Well, if you're so against killing, perhaps you shouldn't be fighting this war!" called a voice from the door.

As the six looked over, they saw an elderly, white haired male squirrel, wheeling a wheelchair into the room.

King Maximillian Acorn.

"Father?"

"As king, I'm allowed to voice my opinion on this, am I not?"

They shrugged.

"By all means, go ahead. We're all ears".

"Thank you".

The king cleared his throat.

"Now, I'm not willing to beat about the bush on this one. Yes, I agree that this war should be finished as quickly as possible and with our victory. But at the same time, I agree that Robotnik should be destroyed. And not just him, but the entire Dark Egg Legion with him."

He then looked over at Julie-Su.

"But maybe we shouldn't be the ones to kill him"

This got the others intrigued.

"What makes you think that, your highness?"

"Well, this war has been going on for years and the freedom Fighters have been using and adapting non-lethal force when fighting, so suddenly switching to the use of lethal force could prove problematic. Which is why we could use the help of those that are used to killing".

"Problem solved, then. We can ask G.U.N for a couple of Spec Ops squads".

"Not quite" the king replied. "What if something goes wrong and we lose a spec Ops soldier or two. Replacements aren't easy to get".

"So what do you suppose we do?"

"Have you ever heard of Prison Island?"

"Of course. It's the most maximum security prison on the planet. What about it?"

"What do they have an abundance of on the island?"

"Well, that's simple. Serial killers, assassi-"

Elias stopped when he realised what his father was getting at.

"You aren't considering..."

"Think about it. We could have a team of merciless killers that can easily be replaced if something goes wrong. Quite frankly, I don't see anything wrong with that".

The group took a moment to let it sink in.

"Alright then. All those in favor of my father's idea?"

Much to their surprise, Sonic, Amy, Julie-Su and Antoine all put up their hands.

King Max followed suit with a smug grin on his face.

Whilst the two Acorn sibling weren't 100% comfortable with the idea of hiring criminals, there weren't any alternatives they could think of.

Besides, there was no way they could vote out of it.

"Very well then. As this has garnered majority votes, one of us will go to Prison Island to begin recruiting for a team to work alongside the Freedom fighters".

Sally looked down at her father.

"Please keep in mind father, that if this backfires, it's your head it will be falling on".

"I'm prepared for that" King Max replied calmly.

* * *

Sally couldn't have felt more out of place if she tried.

She was used to people attempting to shoot her, beat her down and blow her up.

But they were often attempted by Legionnaires, most of whom couldn't hit a barn if they were standing inside it, even with their fancy cybernetic enhancements.

Now however, she was on Prison Island. Home to only the most dangerous criminals on the planet, many of which had committed crimes which made her skin crawl.

As she carefully navigated her way through the prison, accompanied by a number of guards, she found herself subject to cat calling and leering from some of the inmates.

Eventually, she arrived at the office of Warden Laurence Jones; a portly man in his late 40s with a receding hair line.

"Ah, welcome, Princess Sally" he said to them, ushering them into his office. "Now then, what can I do for you?"

"I'm going to cut right to the chase. A few hours ago, we came under a surprise attack from The Dark Egg Legion. Whilst we were able to fend them off, it came at the cost of someone near and dear to us."

"I'm sorry to hear that". Warden Jones replied.

"It's alright. Anyway, we've had a meeting with the other key members of the freedom Fighters and we've come to a conclusion: Robotnik must die".

"Well, that's great and all, but why are you telling me this?"

"Well, there's one small catch. Whilst we all agree that Robotnik must die, none of us are all that eager to take him down. Which is why we're here"

"You're looking for someone to take him down"

"More than that. We're looking to set up a team to take down not just him, but the entire legion with him".

"But why criminals? Couldn't you just ask G.U.N for a few Spec-Ops soldiers?"

"Because we need those who are determined, unfazed by death, experienced, ruthless, cunning..."

"...and expendable" finished the warden.

"That's the general idea, yes."

The warden thought about this for a moment.

"Alright then. What do you need from me?"

"We need you to get us an interview with the most dangerous criminal on the island".

"I know just the guy".

* * *

Khaine had really let himself go since his incarceration.

It wasn't that he'd gotten fatter. In fact, he was arguably in better shape now than he had ever been.

It was just that he looked as if he had been living as a hermit for most of his life.

The greasy hair on his head now stretched down past his shoulders, also covering up most of his face.

Yet surprisingly, he didn't have any sort of facial hair, as he had regularly shaved.

He just didn't want to cut his hair, as he claimed he was going for the "prison hermit" look.

He found himself sat on the bed in deep thought, trying to come up with some sort of escape plan.

Most of what he came up with, however, didn't seem to be properly functional.

The only thing that seemed to be to find a way through the sewage pipes.

And he _really_ didn't want to have to resort to that. He was also pretty sure Wilhelm didn't want to resort to that either.

he continued to try and think of any other ways out.

Just then, however, he heard the sound of clanging against the bars of his cell.

Looking up, he discovered it to be one of the prison guards.

"Look alive, fox. You have a visitor".

Khaine raised an eyebrow. No one had ever come to see him.

As the prison guards opened the door and secured handcuffs on him, escorting him away from the cell block, the other prisoners fell silent.

This usually happened when Khaine went anywhere.

Even if he was in the A block, where the most dangerous convicts on the island resided, including himself.

But the thing is, though, Khaine had the longest list of confirmed kills in the entire prison, more than double than the guy closest to him on the list.

It was blatantly obvious to him that pretty much everyone who had seen him was scared of him.

"It's the look in his eyes, man" one of the inmates had said. "It's just...evil".

And it wasn't just the inmates who feared him. Quite a few of the prison guards carried a fear of him.

More than once, the court had tried to appeal the verdict and have Khaine put on death row, but each time, the appeal ended up getting dropped, as they ended up being too scared to even come face to face with the assassin.

People also didn't want to mess with Wilhelm either, as he was both dangerous in his own right and that messing with him often meant messing with Khaine.

Whilst the appeals against Khaine's sentence were unsuccessful, they had at least been able to push Wilhelm's original sentence up to a much less lenient 40 years.

This was then pushed up to 55 years when Wilhelm was found responsible for the deaths of two more inmates after snapping their necks in a fight.

"Hey, they started it, I finished it!" Wilhelm had said to them, unashamed.

As Khaine was escorted through the prison complex, he wondered where he was going.

Being an A level inmate, he was usually only allowed just 1 hour out of his cell and that was usually for lunch.

Eventually, he found himself being led into a dark room, with one bright light illuminating a large table, with a chair at each end.

The interview room.

"Odd" he thought to himself. "They've never taken me in here before. News stories have been run about Wilhelm and I, but we've never been in here before".

He then realized just who was sitting at the opposite end of the table.

Princess Sally Acorn.

"Hmm. Stranger and stranger" he thought to himself as the guard sat him down opposite the princess.

As he looked across at her, eyes peering out of the darkness, she seemed unfazed by his presence, almost as if she didn't know who he was.

He would change that.

The guard stood in the corner of the room, keeping guard.

Sally cleared her throat.

"Good afternoon, Kenneth" she said to him in a friendly manner. "How are you today".

"Not bad" Kenneth replied in an equally friendly manner. "Although, can I please ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead".

Khaine's voice dropped to a more menacing tone.

"Don't. Call. me. Kenneth. The name's Khaine".

The friendly smile on Sally's face disappeared as it seemed that the room temperature dropped at least 10 degrees celsius.

"Erm, okay then. Khaine it is" she replied, slightly uneasily.

"Anyway, how can I help you?" he asked. "There's got to be some reason you asked to see me, other than to have a chat".

"I'll just cut to the chase. A few hours ago, Knothole came under attack from the Dark Egg Legion".

"Ever considered getting a better warning system?"

"Let me finish. Whilst we were able to beat them back, it came at the cost of someone near and dear to us".

"Are you looking for sympathy? If so, sorry to disappoint".

"I wasn't expecting to find any. Anyway, after a meeting with the other key Freedom Fighters, we came up with only one conclusion: Robotnik must die".

Khaine laughed.

"You realize this now?! No wonder the war has hit a stalemate. Besides, what do you need me for? Can't you just get Sonic to dash up to him and blow his brains out with a shotgun?"

"Well, the thing is, though, none of us are willing to be the ones to make that kill, even though we all agree he should die"

Khaine rolled his eyes.

"Oh please. You seem to be saying that making the first kill is a hard thing to do"

"Was it not for you?"

"Far from it. In fact, it was piss easy".

"Who was your first, then? A crime boss? Some nameless informant that needed to be taken care of?"

Khaine chuckled.

"Do you really want to know, princess?" he asked darkly.

"Try me"

"Very well then"

Khaine cleared his throat.

"Picture this, if you will: a young fox who just wants to be loved by his family for who he is. But alas, that isn't the case, as his parents are heaping praise onto his smarter, stronger older brother. And he would be able to live with this if his older brother wasn't an asshole, picking on his just because of his inferiority. Imagine the rage and frustration building up inside of him like the magma in a volcano, about to erupt."

"I can easily imagine what that must feel like"

"Good. Now, imagine that on one night, things come to a head. The younger brother is in his room all by himself, contemplating his life when the older brother comes flying in, ready to make the younger one his bitch. However, as he is in the process of another beating, the younger brother finally flips. Imagine the shock the older brother had when the younger one reached into a box under his bed and produced a gun before splattering his brain all over the wall. Imagine how the younger one must've felt when he committed the act"

"He was probably devastated, the poor kid"

Just then, Khaine chuckled again.

"And that's where everyone I tell the story to goes wrong."

"What?"

"You see, the thing is...that kid felt nothing whatsoever."

He smirked

"In fact, he actually kind of felt better about it."

The ugly truth then dawned on Sally.

The younger brother Khaine was talking about in the story.

That was him.

He had killed his own brother.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was actually starting to get quite creeped out.

"Are you scared, princess?" he asked, sending a chill down her spine.

She regained most of her posture.

"N-No" she replied.

Khaine chuckled.

"Liar"

An eerie silence descended over them.

"Anyway, look. I can easily see why you're here. You want me to kill Robotnik".

"Well, that is part of it, yes" Sally replied, regaining her posture again. "We're not just wanting to kill Robotnik, but we're also looking to destroy the entire Dark Legion".

"Logically then, I won't be the only one you'll be talking to".

"Correct. What we're actually planning on doing is starting a team to help take them down".

"Not a bad idea you have there, but why us criminals? Surely it would be easier to ask for some Spec Ops soldiers from G.U.N"

"Well, because we need those who can handle the prospect of killing and the risk of being killed. We need those with infamous reputations on their shoulders. We need those-"

"-that can be easily left to die if something goes wrong".

"That's not what I was saying".

"Well that's how I'm reading it. Besides, why else would you hire a group of criminals? Anyways, whatever you're offering won't make much of a difference on me"

"Not even improved cell conditions and a more lenient prison sentence".

"I'll probably find a way out, anyway".

Sally was expecting him to just flat out decline the offer at this point.

However, a small smile appeared on Khaine's face.

"Good thing dying in battle is something I've always wanted."

"Are you in, then?"

"Oh I'm in...but on one condition".

"What's that, then?"

"I'll take your offer if you let me pick my teammates".

"I can't promise you that"

"Well that's the deal. Take it or leave it" he replied with a sense of finality in his voice. "It'll only take an hour",

She thought about this for a moment.

"I'll see what can be arranged" she replied, getting up from the table.

* * *

_1 hour later_

Sally eventually returned to the interview room, ready to see Khaine's nominations for the other team members.

However, as she re-entered, she saw something she hadn't expected to see during her visit.

Surrounding the opposite chair was a large pile of files, each one containing the details of each prisoner on the island.

Khaine was somewhere in that.

"So, how's it going, Khaine?" she asked, taking her seat again.

"It's going fine thanks" came a reply from somewhere in the pile "You know, whoever said that you learn something new everyday is right. I've learnt all sorts of interesting things about the other prisoners. By the way, did you know that the prison psychologist wrote in her report about me that she's under the impression that I'm insane"

"Are you?"

"No. I just get a kick out of killing people. Anyway, yes, my teammates."

A file came flying out of the pile, landing on the table in front of Sally.

"My first and immediate choice: Wilhelm Weasel, or Fyreheart as he prefers to be called sometimes. My partner in crime" he said as Sally opened the file, revealing the mugshot of the navy coloured Weasel. "When the two of us were operating together, I was the man on the ground whilst he was my eyes in the sky, being an expert hacker and all, plus a pretty good fighter when push came to shove. Without him, I wouldn't have lasted as long as I had, so I owe him that much".

Another file flew over the top, landing in front of Sally.

She opened it, revealing the mugshot of a white haired hedgehog with stuck up quills and all red eyes.

"My second choice: Cyrus Hedgehog. Convicted for 8 years on accounts of murder, assault, destruction of property, discharge of firearms in public and possession of marijuana. The psychologist has also declared him schizophrenic, as he claims he is an alien from another planet. Personally, he looks like the kind of guy who would tell the truth, so I don't buy that".

"Why him? He's only been convicted for 8 years and his kill count is tiny in comparison to yours".

"That's irrelevant. What is relevant, however, is that he has been described as an amazing fighter. According to the report, it took at least sixteen police officers and an extra strength tranquilizer to bring him down, which is fine in my books".

A third file came flying over, landing in front of Sally.

She opened it to reveal the mugshot of a black coloured female hedgehog with piercing green eyes and a scar across her left eyelid.

"My third choice: Jasmine Hedgehog. Convicted for 12 years on the charges of murder, kidnapping, and grand theft of several thousand dollars in a bank robbery. Psychologists claim that she suffers from anger management problems. Apparently, however, her kills were written down as accidents until she confessed to the murders in court. What's more, she has also been seen to exhibit control of chaos energy based powers when near a reservoir of energy strong enough to allow her to use them, which could be helpful to the team".

A fourth file arrived in front of Sally.

She opened it, revealing a purple coloured, striped cat with bright yellow eyes and a small scar above his left eyebrow.

"My fourth and final choice: Pluto Cat. Convicted for 15 years on the charges of murder, assault, theft and drug dealing. According to the report, he is a mercenary by trade. Apparently, he's also pretty good as a sharpshooter, making him a good choice for a spot on the team. What's more, the psychologist has written that Pluto doesn't seem to be insane in any way. In fact, he's described as being quite nonchalant".

Sally then realized something.

"Wait, why are you only choosing four?" she asked.

"I always operate on the notion that the size of the army makes no difference if it happens to be crap. Quality over quantity. If it turns out I'm wrong, I'll ask for more guys".

"Alright then. Anything else?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking about something. Does the team have a name?"

"Not yet, no. I always assumed it would be called "the team"".

"That's boring. I feel like giving this little team a name. Something unique. Something intimidating".

"Like what?"

Khaine paused for a moment as he thought about it.

"How does "The Black Claws" sound?"

"Not bad. Has a nice sound to it".

"Alright then. Black Claws it is."

"Anything else?"

"Nope, I believe that is everything".

"Well then Khaine, thank you for your time". Sally said to him, standing up from her seat. "The next time we meet, you'll be part of something bigger".

"Thank you, princess" Khaine replied as he stood up himself, being led to the door by the guard. "Oh and don't worry. If the team does come to be, you won't be dissappointed."

With that, Khaine was escorted out of the room.

* * *

"He did what?!"

"That's horrible!"

"Maybe, but his brother was a bully towards him"

"That makes barely any difference!"

"Look, we're getting off topic here. Did he agree to your proposition?"

"He did, but only on the condition that he could select the other teammates".

"Don't tell me you allowed him to do this"

"Well he may be a dangerous criminal, but he sure as hell isn't stupid. Besides his pics were only skill based. Only one of them he knew in person".

"But can we really trust him? He is a professional assassin".

"I certainly don't trust him".

"It's not trusting him we need to worry about. It's getting him on board we need to worry about and that's the only way we'll get him on board and we'll need him for this to pay off in the best possible way".

There was silence among the three as they thought about this.

"Alright. I'm not 100% comfortable with this plan, but it's all for the best. I say we bring them in".

"What do you think, Elias?"

The prince sat silently, thinking of an answer before finally speaking up.

"Will they have a base of operations?"

"I have a few good ideas for a base for them"

"Alright. Bring them in"

* * *

**Cyrus was created by Cyrus the Hedgehog**

**Jasmine was created by Shadow lover 123**

**Pluto was created by Alpha Dragonis**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: ...is Now**

Wilhelm had never expected to find himself in this position.

The weasel found it relatively unsurprising that the other inmates on Prison Island feared him. However, a majority of this was down to the fact that he and Khaine knew each other.

And most of them were scared of him.

It was only when Wilhelm had killed those two guys in a fight that people started to fear him because he was pretty dangerous on his own.

This had been the only downside he had discovered to working with Khaine: he tended to get most of the credit, solely because he was seen in action more than he was.

This made things all the more satisfying when Wilhelm had to help him out of a jam every once in a while.

Then again, people didn't realize that when the duo had first met, it hadn't been in the typical circumstances where people first meet.

* * *

_Flashback_

_Two years before incarceration_

Someone had once said something to Wilhelm the day he had become a professional hacker that he kept with him throughout his rookie days: "Go bold or go home".

He definitely realized this very soon.

To begin with, the weasel often found himself hacking into ATMs and withdrawing ridiculous amounts of money.

However, he soon quickly found that pretty much every wannabe hacker with cheap hardware was doing this.

He needed to up his game.

He soon moved on to the creation of spyware programs, allowing him to see the data on the computers of his unsuspecting targets. From there, he would then copy the data and sell it off to the highest bidder.

Whilst this allowed him to slowly rise in status, he still found himself being viewed as just a hacker, rather than _the_ hacker.

He decided to take a new approach to this: eliminate the competition.

Whilst quite a lot of Wilhelm's competition were almost untraceable, when they were found, they couldn't hold their own in a fight.

Wilhelm, however, could.

Very soon, the police began to recover the bodies of various infamous hackers, often found dead in their hideouts with an arrow embedded in either the face or the back of the head.

Or the crotch, if he felt like showing off.

People in the hacker community soon began to talk of a figure in a dark hood and brandishing a bow and arrow, hunting hackers.

People tried to warn Wilhelm that the figure would come after him and strike him down.

However, they failed to realize one thing: Wilhelm was the figure in the hood.

As time went by, Wilhelm's reputation and hacking skills began to increase, almost tenfold until he was considered to be one of the best hackers on the planet, if not _the_ best.

There wasn't a single part of the internet that Wilhelm had been on the receiving end of one of his various cyber attacks at least once.

And yet there was just one computer system that was left untouched by him, and it just so happened to be the most secure computer network on the planet.

However, the Weasel had always said to himself "if its digital, it can be hacked"

This is what he found himself doing on one stormy night in the mystic ruins. From his base of operations, he found himself attempting to hack the world's most secure computer system: The G.U.N database.

Wilhelm knew this was no snatch-n-grab. In fact, to him, this was more along the lines of a full blown heist.

Usually, his task involved stealing discriminating and/or personal details about a target and selling them on.

But this time, there was more than just discriminating evidence on offer here.

Experimental weapons blueprints and top secret R&D files.

He could only imagine how much stuff like this was worth.

As soon as he had access to the database, he was powering through any firewalls that happened to be in his way.

If it hadn't been for his cybernetic arm, he wouldn't have been able to pull such tremendous typing speeds.

Eventually, the fox had cleared any and all firewalls in his way.

The giant screen before him displayed just what he had been looking for.

He couldn't believe what he was reading.

The files were split into two categories. The first contained dozens of weird and wonderful equipment and weapon designs, including those for hypersonic stealth fighter jets, stealth suits, anti-gravity vehicles and even energy weapons.

But whilst this was indeed interesting, this wasn't what caught Wilhelm's eye.

What did was the other section, containing all sorts of highly classified experiments, including the creation of super-soldiers, plans for a potential space program in the future and, much to the shock of the weasel, telekinesis screening tests for a select handful of elite soldiers.

This wasn't espionage gold. This was espionage _platinum_!

Wilhelm quickly produced one of his spare flash drives, plugged it into the computer and booted it up before he could say "Jackpot".

He then selected the files he wanted and hit the download button on the drive.

Whilst the flash drive was one of the most powerful and efficient ones on the market, the download was taking longer than he had wanted, as there were literally thousands of files to get through.

He stared up at the screen, nervously twiddling his thumbs and hoping that everything would go fine.

As the progress bar gradually made it's way across the screen, Wilhelm envisioned just what would happen when he got all the data.

He already had a list of names for those who would potentially be interested, including puppet dictators and terrorists alike, who would probably be more than willing to pay handsomely for the data.

Wilhelm then imagined what would happen when the public found out about what G.U.N had been up to. He sincerely doubted they would get shut down, but he could see them getting devastated by worldwide sanctions left, right and centre.

Wilhelm grinned mischievously.

"Ain't I a stinker?" he said to himself.

_*Clink__clink*_

The weasel heard the sound of something hitting the ground behind him.

Spinning his chair around, he spotted a small, round object rolling along the floor towards him.

He instantly recognised what it was.

"Po dyavolite" he muttered to himself before diving out of his chair and away from the object.

_BANG!_

The grenade exploded, sending shrapnel flying everywhere.

Whilst Wilhelm had been able to dodge out of the way in time, the blast had significantly damaged his computer and his flash drive, shutting them down.

"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" Came a yell from behind a nearby door.

As Wilhelm picked himself up, coughing and spluttering from all the smoke kicked up, the door behind where he had been sitting suddenly flung open as five men came into the room and surrounding him.

Each one was dressed in a camouflaged combat suit with a blue beret on their heads.

Wilhelm pulled up the hood on his cloak, recognising who these men where.

G.U.N Spec-Ops soldiers.

"Huh. I should have known someone would try and come after me like this"

"Wilhelm Weasel, you are charged with murder, theft, arson and espionage. We are here with orders to bring you in or take you down trying. So, what is it going to be?"

The Weasel spotted his bow and quiver, full of arrows, tucked away behind his computer, having been unaffected by the blast.

He almost instantly formulated a plan.

Smirking, he put both his hands up as a sign of surrender.

"Good choice"

One of the five then moved towards him to incapacitate him.

That's when Wilhelm struck.

Much to the surprise of the others, Wilhelm suddenly grabbed the guy by his shoulders and threw him against the nearby wall, stunning him.

Before then others could react, Wilhelm then dived towards his gear, rapidly placing the quiver on his back, notching an arrow and firing it.

These guys were much better than the weasel had anticipated, as they dodged out of the arrow's path.

"So that's how you want it?" Asked one of them, pulling out a combat knife. "Fine then"

The weasel and the four soldiers then rushed into combat, with the fifth joining in once he had recovered.

Wilhelm was no stranger to intense close combat fights. In fact, he had even lost count of the amount of times things had turned into "fisticuffs" as some might say.

In fact, on multiple occasions, he had even had the virtue of winning fights where he had been significantly outnumbered.

But this time he was facing off against five highly trained G.U.N soldiers.

The odds were not stacked in his favor.

This became obvious later on in the combat when, despite being able to put up a great fight and successfully land quite a few hits on them, he found himself getting knocked out from soldier to soldier as if he was a football.

_CRACK!_

"Oww!"

One of them landed an uppercut to his jaw.

_WHAM!_

"Urgh!"

Another then picked him up and flung him over his shoulder, sending him crashing into a nearby wall.

_PAFF!_

"OAAAAGHH!"

A third one then landed one final kick to his crotch.

As the Weasel tried to pick himself back up, his male parts in intense pain, the five soldiers surrounded him.

He had one arrow still left in his quiver.

One of the soldiers then grabbed Wilhelm by the throat, lifting him up off his feet.

"Anything else to add?" he asked, smirking arrogantly.

"Just a message to your commander" the weasel replied.

Wilhelm then simply spat in his face, chuckling afterwords.

The soldier wiped the spit off his face before pulling out a pistol from his belt.

"I'll be sure to let him know, you little shitstain" the soldier replied coldly, pointing the pistol at the weasel's temple.

He shut his eyes, expecting the inevitable.

However, just then...

_CLANGCLANGCLANG!_

"Pizza delivery!"

The six looked over at the door.

"Did you ask for pizza?"

"What's it to you?" The weasel replied, rudely.

"Smith, go get the door"

"Roger"

One of the soldiers then cautiously headed over to the door, readying a combat knife before slowly opening it.

"PSYCH!" Yelled out the voice.

The soldier was caught off guard by a low flying machete, cleaving his head clean off.

"SMITH!?"

As the group looked on in shock, a lone figure stepped into the room, retrieving the bloody machete.

The figure in question was a dark haired male fox, dressed in a matt-black jumpsuit.

In his hands, he held both the bloodied machete and another one just like it.

He carried a venomous look in his dark yellow eyes.

"Now then, there are two ways we can go about this" the fox said to the other four soldiers. "The first is where you guys surrender, I grant you a quick death and claim the bounties on your heads. The other is where you try to resist, you fail, I kill you slowly and painfully and still get paid. So what's it going to be?"

This proved to be just what Wilhelm needed, as this distraction allowed him to reach into his quiver and pull out his final arrow before stabbing it into one of the wrists of the soldier that was pinning him against the wall.

This then allowed him to land back on his feet, notch the arrow and fire it at point blank range right at the soldier's face, killing him upon impact.

As the three were busy deciding which one to attack first, the two criminals met in the middle.

"Thanks for the distraction" Wilhelm said to the fox.

"Hey, no problem. I've been hunting these five arseholes for about a week."

The duo looked over at the remaining three.

"Shall we?"

"Gladly"

The duo then charged at the remaining three soldiers, engaging them in furious hand to hand combat.

Seeing the fox as the greater threat, two of the soldiers decided to take him on, leaving their counterpart to take on Wilhelm.

Big mistake.

As the soldier and the weasel fought, Wilhelm could breath easy, knowing that he finally had something of an advantage.

He punctuated this by landing an almighty kick at one of the soldier's knee caps, completely shattering the bone.

As the soldier screamed in pain, Wilhelm kicked it back again, causing the soldier to fall.

Despite the soldier's best attempts to pick himself back up, he was finished off when Wilhelm landed an almighty punch to the back of his neck with his cybernetic arm, completely breaking the top of the spine and part of his skull.

From there, he then decided to help the fox out suddenly leaping onto the back of one of the remaining soldiers before pulling out his last arrow and stabbing the soldier in one of his temples, killing him instantly.

The combat was finally finished by the fox plunging one of his machetes deep into the chest of the final soldier before using his other machete to cleave his head off.

As he fell, the two criminals met in the middle, both splattered in blood.

"Thanks for the assist" Wilhelm said to him.

"No problem, mate."

He noticed his cybernetic arm.

"What's with the robot arm?"

"I had it taken off not too long ago. Built this one out of spare parts I had lying around".

"Impressive".

"Thanks"

The weasel held out his hand.

"Wilhelm Weasel. You can call me Fyreheart".

The fox shook his hand.

"Kenneth Fox. Call me Khaine".

* * *

___CLANGCLANGCLANG!_

Wilhelm heard the sound of something hitting the bars of his cell door.

Looking up, he found a small group of prison guards standing outside.

Much to his surprise, one of them then proceeded to unlock the door to his cell.

Assuming that this was for his lunch break, Wilhelm got up off his bed and held out both his hands, so that the guards could handcuff him.

Once this had been done, the guards then began to lead him down the hallway.

However, not too far along, he realized something.

The canteen was the other way.

"Erm, guys, you do realize that the canteen is the other way, right?" He asked them.

"We know" one of them replied.

All this did was make Wilhelm more confused.

"Well then, where are we going?"

"It's not where we're going that is important. It's where _you're _going that matters"

"Oh? And where exactly am I going?"

"That's for you to find out"

"What? Ah, I hate surprises".

However, the weasel found out soon enough.

Eventually, he was escorted out to the vehicle bay.

Looking down the far end, he saw the tunnel that connected Prison Island to the mainland.

This had been the closest he had ever been to freedom in a while.

However, that's not what caught his attention.

What did catch his attention, however, was one single, small prison bus, surrounded by a whole armada of SWAT men and vehicles.

As he was escorted onto the bus, the weasel soon discovered that he wasn't the only one going through what he was at this moment.

On the right side of the bus corridor were a white male hedgehog and a purple striped male cat.

On the opposite side sat a black haired female hedgehog.

All three pairs of eyes turned to the weasel as he stepped into the bus.

The female hedgehog's eyes quickly returned to looking out the bus window

"Who might, you be then? Mr Roboto?" the cat asked, chuckling.

Wilhelm looked down at his cybernetic limb.

"For your information, punk, I built this myself out of loose scrap metal and wiring after losing my original arm" he replied, feeling a bit insulted by that statement.

"Hey, I was just joking. Jeez"

The hedgehog sitting next to him was trying to figure out where he had seen the weasel before.

It soon dawned on him.

"Hey, I know you! You're that guy who killed those two other guys in a fight the other day".

"There's plenty that have done that".

"I know, but I saw him snap both their necks".

"What can I say? They were pissing me off. So I shut them up. Permanently".

"I don't blame you. I'd probably do something like that as well. Anyway, I'm Cyrus."

He pointed to the cat who he had been sitting next to.

"This is Pluto. Don't mind his sarcasm. That's just his way of being friendly".

He then pointed at the female hedgehog sitting on the opposite side, not paying any attention to the others.

"She's Jasmine, by the way. Quick word of advice: Don't bother her. Pluto went up to introduce himself and she nearly threw him threw the windshield".

"I'll remember that. I'm Wilhelm, by the way. Anyway, are there any more coming out?"

"Hell, I don't know. I tried asking, but the guards don't tell us anything".

Pluto was looking out of the window.

"Just a quick heads up, they're bringing out another one. A fox this time".

Wilhelm had a gut feeling who it was.

He peeked out of the window.

Much to his surprise, he spotted an even larger group of guards escorting Khaine round to the bus entrance.

As he stepped on, a few more guards, along with the bus driver, followed him on".

"S'up, bitches?" Khaine called out to the others.

"Khaine!" Wilhelm said happily as the two bro-hugged (or at least the best they could with handcuffs on). "Bloody hell, mate".

"Looks like we're going to be on this trip together".

"Yeah. Anyway, those guys over there are Cyrus and Pluto".

"Hi".

"Hey there".

"The girl over there is Jasmine".

"Hmph" She grunted, disinterested.

"Alright you lot, we've got a long journey ahead of us" one of the prison guards called out from the front seats. "Take your seats"

The five took their seats, with the dynamic duo grabbing seats near the back".

As the doors to the bus closed, the SWAT units clambered into their transports.

Very soon, the entire convoy was soon on the move, heading down the tunnel and towards the mainland.

"It feels good to finally be off that godforsaken island" Wilhelm said, relieved. "I wish they'd tell us where and why we're going, though"

Khaine chuckled, leaning back in his seat.

"Well, my friend, I'll let you in on a little secret . Whilst i'm not 100% certain of where we're going, I am pretty sure of why we're leaving prison like this".

The weasel looked at his friend like he had just told him the meaning of life.

"What?!"

"That being said, though, if I did tell you, you probably wouldn't believe me"

This didn't stop Wilhelm from grabbing Khaine by the front of his prison shirt and shaking him.

"TELL ME! WHAT IS YOUR SECRET!?" He yelled out.

"Hey, calm down back there!" One of the guards ordered him.

Wilhelm let go of Khaine's shirt and sat back in his seat.

"Don't worry. You'll find out when the journey is over" his friend reassured him.

He then leaned across to talk to Jasmine.

"So, how are you doing?" he asked her in a relatively friendly manner.

Jasmine just simply looked back at him with a cold expression on her face before replying in an equally cold manner "I don't associate myself with guys who have vaginas" before returning her view back to her window.

"Huh. Charming" Khaine muttered.

* * *

What felt like an eternity later, the convoy finally stopped deep within the mobian forest.

As the SWAT units stepped out of their transports, the bus doors opened and the five criminals stepped out.

"What in the world?"

Before them was what appeared to be an old military bunker, just like the one Wilhelm had been hiding out in when he had met Khaine.

However, the main difference here was that the it appeared to be completely abandoned, as if it hadn't been touched in years.

However, from inside shone a faint blue light.

"Is this is?" Wilhelm asked, disappointed. "Is this the big secret? Did they just drag us out here to come sightseeing?"

"If that's it, even after that long-ass journey, I'm gonna be pissed" Cyrus added.

"Don't worry, guys. There's more to this place than meets the eye. Follow me".

As the five headed into the bunker, following the blue light, the army of SWAT officers followed after them.

Upon entering, the five were shocked to find that behind the aged exterior, the bunker was surprisingly modern.

The doors leading off to other parts of the bunker appeared to come straight out of a starship.

Right in the middle of the room was a large table, which appeared to be emitting blue hologram mugshots of the five criminals, along with details about them, with Princess Sally Acorn looking over them.

"Ah, your highness. It's good to see you again" Khaine said to her.

The other four stared at him.

"You've met her?!" a confused Pluto asked.

"He has indeed" The Princess replied, heading over to meet the group. "In fact, it's thanks to the two of us that you're out here instead of back in prison. We're here to discuss a potential...business opportunity".

The others were intrigued and confused.

"I had better start from the beginning. A few days ago, my teammates and I at the Freedom Fighters lost a close friend thanks to the Dark Egg Legion. After much debate as to what to do now, we eventually decided to do something that we should have decided on a long time ago: Kill Robotnik."

"Well then, why do you need us, then?" asked Wilhelm. "Surely you and your guys can take him and his cronies down on your own"

"Maybe, but the main problem with that is that the Freedom Fighters have used non-lethal tactics for years, so suddenly changing the status quo could prove troublesome. We needed people to do the killing for us. Plus without the hassle of asking G.U.N for soldiers"

"That's where I come in" Added Khaine.

"Exactly. Two days ago, I came to Prison Island to try and persuade Khaine to take up our offer. He accepted, but only if he could pick his teammates".

"That's where you four come in".

Sally stepped to the side, allowing them to view the profiles.

"Each of you carries a unique skill set which could be vital in carrying out the task at hand. Should you succeed in killing Robotnik, each of you will receive better living conditions back on the island, a much more lenient prison sentence and a large cash sum upon release. Now, the question is this: are you in? I already know Khaine is, but what about the rest of you?"

The other four stood in silence for the next few moments, trying to process everything.

Eventually, Wilhelm spoke up.

"Essentially...you're giving the task of ending Robotnik's reign of terror...to two mercenaries, a thief a street thug and an angry conduit for chaos energy".

"That's crazy!" replied Cyrus.

"That's idiotic!". Added Jasmine.

"I'm in!" declared Pluto.

The others just stared at him.

"What can I say? I've wanted to take a shot at old Chubby McMoustache for a while"

"Likewise" added Wilhelm proudly. "I'm in as well!"

Cyrus then shrugged.

"Might as well. It'll probably beat going back to the island, anyway. I'm joining too".

The four then looked over at Jasmine.

"Again, this is idiotic" she replied bluntly, folding her arms.

"Oh come on, Jasmine" Khaine said to her "It'll be fun!"

"Not with you four, it won't"

"Oh, there's no need to be like that. Besides, I'm pretty sure you've thought about finding old Robotnik, tearing his head off and taking a long shit down his neck..."

She glared at him, wanting the cat to shut up.

"...or perhaps tearing out his beating heart and then eating it..."

"I swear to god, fox..."

"...or maybe even pulling out his Pancreas and slurping the juices out of-"

Jasmine sighed.

"There's no shutting out you up, is there?"

"Not until you join up, no"

She sighed again.

"Alright fine. Just to shut you up. I'm in".


End file.
